November 22, 2006

My Wii Experience

So, Saturday and Sunday came, and went. I haven't had time to blog my experience up until now, sorry. Here it is, my version of the Wii Epic:

Saturday began with me waking up at about 9:30 am. I wandered around the house for about an hour, leisurely cleaning and picking things up for when Lacey came over. She was due to show up at about noon, but she ended up arriving at 1:45, apparently they were running late, not quite sure how they could run THAT late, but eh, it gave me time to relax and watch the U of O game (the ducks are quite poor at defense). She soon arrived and when she came inside we made our pizza. We discovered that rolling pizza dough into a circle is very difficult because it seems to like the shape it is, always reverting back to a ball no matter how hard you roll it. We managed to conquer the beast, however, and soon enough we had a quite tasty pizza ready for the eating. I put Swedish Fish on mine, it tasted quite good, but Lacey preferred the Swedish Fish separately. We watched a little tv and then started a movie but never got to finish it. Instead, we decided to start our Wii adventure at 5:00. We loaded up chairs, hot chocolate, cards, soda, sushi, books, warm clothes, and all the necessities, and headed out.

Our first stop was the mall so that I could pay off the balance on my Wii. Easy enough, no problem, all payed off. We wandered the mall and explored a little bit, and then left for WalMart. On the way to Wally World we stopped at Fred Meyer to explore, check out the Wii line, and buy some energy drinks. There were a bunch of people in line, but it was obvious that more could still join and safely get a Wii. We left Fred Meyer in favor of WalMart, and arrived at our destination shortly after leaving Freddy's.

When we got to WalMart we carted all of our stuff over to the line and sat at the end. We were number 24. After calling and going in, we were assured that there would be 26 consoles, so we could even buy one if we wanted. Alas, we were there simply for a controller, so it didn't matter. We began waiting in line at 7:00.

Line Stories

>Patrick<So there's a kid in my clarinet section, a freshman, named Patrick. Patrick wanted a Wii too, but not having a pre-order somewhere, was forced into line waiting. He took it in stride though, and managed to get spot #1. He got in line at 9 in the morning and had been there all day. Patrick basically rocks. He came down and chatted with us for a while, kept me and Lacey entertained.

>Liz and Brady<Soon enough, Liz (buffalo wings girl) and Brady (some other freshman) show up outside of WalMart after having done some shopping and could not believe that Patrick and I were actually in line (they had thought we were joking about doing it, shows how much they know). They chatted with us for a little bit and then took off.

>Pop Cans and Cars<About 2 hours into our wait, the end of the line started to get slightly restless, so we developed a game. Place a popcan in the street and see if a car smashes it. At first we didn't have much success, but we developed a system after a while. Place the can such that a car turning from one row of the parking lot to another is forced to smash it due to their turning radius. We smashed 2 cans this way. We got another when a minivan lined up at one end of the parking lot and actually gunned it towards the popcan. He hit it at probably 35 mph, it was amazing.

>PS3 Guy<At one point, a guy showed up to stand in line for the Wii, and after talking for a bit, we discovered that he had waited 38 hours for a PS3 as well. He had scored 3 of the 4 WalMart had sold, so he said he was going to sell 2 and keep one. He showed me a picture on his camera phone, he wasn't lying. He hopped in line for the Wii with a buddy, numbers 25 and 26. The line was now full. >Manager< At about 9 o'clock I went inside the store and inquired as to the availability of controllers, since that was the only reason I was there. The managers assured me that they had controllers and that they were going to go back and start looking for the huge pallete of accessories.

>Tickets<At 10 o'clock they came out to distribute tickets. Here's what we heard:"Alright, we're handing out tickets now. We have 20."

TWENTY?!?!?! All day you've been saying 26! Needless to say, number 21 in line was a little upset. But, the irony of it all is slightly amusing, so I'll share. His name is Ben, he goes to my high school. It was his birthday (irony #1), he was number 21 in line (irony #2) and he had also been number 5 in line for the 4 PS3's WalMart had (irony #3). All in all, it was a bad day to be Ben. They passed out the tickets and everybody after number 20 left, except for me and Lacey. By this time, Lacey is wrapped in countless numbers of warm things and trying to sleep.

They let everybody get out of line since all the tickets were out, but we had to stay on the property or in the store. We all retreated to the store to stay warm. We spent about an hour inside WalMart, hanging out with Patrick, until I found the manager again and asked about the controllers.

"Right, about the controllers, we can't find them"The smile instantly disappeared from my face"What?""Well, we can't seem to find the palette of controllers, so we aren't going to sell them tonight.""I've been in line since 7 for controllers you guys promised me and now you aren't going to sell them?!?!""Nope, sorry""I'll help you look for them!""No"

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lacey and I ditched the WalMart scene. We headed over to Fred Meyer where there were about 60 people in line for 54 consoles. Tickets were out and everybody was just waiting until midnight. I saw a bunch of people from my school there and we chatted for a bit, but ended up leaving and driving around downtown for a while just because the car was warm. We got back to Fred Meyer at about 11:45, just in time for the launch. We gave $60 to some kid that was 4th in line so that he could buy me a controller, and he did. He went in, and then came back out with a Wii and a bag full of accessories, some for me! I officially had a Wiimote. YAY! SUCK IT WALMART!

Lacey and I took off for the mall next. We arrived, walked in, picked up the system, and then left. Very anti-climactic, except for the fact that I HAD A WII! We hopped in the car and then drove to my house.

When we got home we unloaded all of our line-waiting things from the car and went inside. Lacey changed into PJ's while I set everything up. There was A LOT of plastic and tape and padding in that box, it looked like an entire family's worth of Christmas wrapping paper all over the floor. But, we waded through the foam and pushed the power button. The Wii glowed to life. It was beautiful.

In popped Wii Sports and we were off. First game on the Wii, Tennis. AMAZING! Lacey and I had a blast! Next we bowled a bit and then golfed. All were amazing! By this time it's 2:30 in the morning and Lacey is exhausted. She lays on the couch and tries to fall asleep while I sit at the end of the couch, acting as a foot rest, playing Rayman Raving Rabbids. Another amazing game. She watched for a while and eventually fell asleep. I played for about 2 hours before getting tired myself, so I just kinda shifted around on the couch and ended up falling asleep using Lacey as a pillow while holding the Wiimote. Romantic or sad? I'll let you decide. . .

At 6:30 we woke up played some bowling. Lacey kicked my butt, it wasn't even a contest. While I showered and got ready for work she played some baseball, which she said was quite fun as well. With my Wii I got an iron-on shirt decal, a temporary tattoo, and a pen, all with Wii stamped all over them. I did my iron on before heading off to work. Lacey and I got coffee at Starbucks and then my mom took her home while I spent all day at work swinging the controller around like a madman! After work I rushed to the mall, bought the guide to Zelda: Twilight Princess, and then rushed home. I got home at 6 o'clock, and Jake came over.

Jake and I played Wii boxing. Never again. Ever. I'm still sore, and I got so tired that I had to just lay on the ground. Boo! lol We also bowled a few frames and Jake got 5 strikes in a row! It was quite a feat. Soon, Greg showed up, just in time to catch some bunny shooting action in Rayman. Shortly after that, Patrick and Kehl (Patrick from the line, Kehl being another freshman in my section) came over with 2 more controllers and Red Steel. 4 player tennis and Red Steel action baby! Oh, and sorry for smacking you in the back during tennis Patrick, I got a little into it, my bad!

After our gaming session (in which Greg pwned us all at Red Steel), everybody left and I went to bed. It had been a long day.

The next day at school I wore my Wii shirt and put my temporary tattoo on my face. It was the day of the Wii. Fortunately, some of the guys outside of Fred Meyer brought two controllers to school, so during speech team we hooked up the Wii to our teacher's projector and played it on the wall. TENNIS! Our teacher got so into it, I think he may buy one. I took it to school the next day as well, hooking it up to the projector in my CAD class. We only got to play during lunch, but it was still fun!

That is the Wii epic up until this point. This blog entry is long enough, so I'll end it here. The Wii is everything it was cracked up to be, and all of the non-gamers that I let play it have all really enjoyed it, Nintendo succeeded. Lacey will be buying one and having a Wii birthday party coming up and I'm going to keep buying games and controllers. I bought an aluminum briefcase the other day to store it, so I'll let you know when that project is complete. Until later, cheerio, and I hope you buy a Wii.